A FULL investigation is to be carried out after serious flaws were revealed in Bournemouth council’s use of consultants.

The decision follows an audit report, which revealed that some self-employed staff hired by the council had been paid inflated salaries without proper contracts in place.

The investigation will also try to get to the bottom of who knew about these concerns and why no action was taken for two years after they were first raised.

It is thought that auditors first prepared a report on this issue in July 2010 but this was not presented to councillors.

Liz Wilkinson, Bournemouth council’s new executive director of finance, said they had spent the summer working out the scope of the investigation and who should conduct it.

The eventual decision was that Feriser Tasdelen, the acting head of audit and management assurance, will lead the investigation and report back to a special council meeting in November.